AW AND THE WAINWRIGHT SOCIETY

The Wainwright Society was formed in 2002 and now has over 2,000 members. The society promotes Alfred Wainwright’s vision of bringing fell-walking to a wider audience and caring for the hills, including contributing to public debate on landscape quality and the quality of life in upland areas, particularly the Lake District. The society fundraises for good causes that it believes Wainwright would have supported, and the Wainwright Memorial Lecture has attracted a number of prominent speakers including Hunter Davies, Alan Hinkes and Rory Stewart MP.

Wainwright’s principal concern was for the Lake District fells, which were the subject of his

series of books. However, he had affection for many other spots in Lakeland such as Patterdale post office – the first shop that offered to sell copies of

in 1955 – and places where he dined out after his days of fell-walking, such as the café in Ambleside, where he ordered egg and chips and a pot of tea for half a crown (sadly now long closed down). Then there was the Keswick Restaurant where, on his appearances each Sunday afternoon, Winnie the waitress would call out to the kitchen, “Plaice and chips for one!”

Some of his favourite locations were not on the high fells. Packhorse bridges were often the subject of his pen and ink sketches, such as Slater’s Bridge in Little Langdale and High Sweden Bridge just outside Ambleside. Blea Tarn in Langdale was the subject of his very first Lakeland sketch drawn in 1942. He also wrote a special book of walks, still in print, from stations along the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. by Derek Cockrell, The Wainwright Society